The present invention relates to a bed arrangement in the coupe area or the area at and behind the driver's seat, of a vehicle, comprising vehicle seats which can be converted into a bed and which each comprise a seat part and a backrest connected to the latter.
The maximum length of a lorry with trailer is limited by law. In order to obtain as great a loading length as possible within the limited length, developments are moving in the direction of ever shorter cabs. However, as the cabs are being made shorter, the space in the cab which can be used for a bed, on which the lorry driver can rest between his work shifts, is also reduced.
Since there is less and less space for a bed in the cab, greater requirements are placed on the designing of the bed, since the latter must, on the one hand, be sufficiently wide to allow the driver to take up a comfortable rest position and must, on the other hand, be designed in such a way that it does not limit the driver's freedom of movement during his work shift.
European Patent Application EP 36758 discloses a relatively compact bed arrangement. The arrangement comprises three bed cushions, of which one bed cushion is pivotably arranged between an upper and a lower position on the rear wall of the cab, while the two other bed cushions are arranged on the rear side of the backrests of the driver's seat and the passenger seat respectively. The bed cushions are arranged so that they form an integral bed when the backrests of the seats are folded forwards towards the instrument panel of the vehicle and at the same time the bed cushion arranged on the rear wall of the cab is in its lowered position.
The bed arrangement is certainly relatively compact and saves space, but it has a number of disadvantages. First, the bed cushions on the backrests limit the adjustment range of the seats. The limitation of the adjustment range is particularly noticeable in the case of the passenger seat since, for reasons of comfort, the latter should be displaceable in the longitudinal direction over a greater distance than the driver's seat is displaceable, and since its backrest, again for reasons of comfort, should be pivotable backwards to a greater degree than the backrest of the driver's seat.
Second, it is difficult to use the bed arrangement in so-called cab-over-engine vehicles. Indeed, in these, an engine cowl covering the engine protrudes into the coupe area. Therefore, in order to use the bed arrangement, it is necessary for the seat parts of the seats to be raised, each time the bed arrangement is used, from a previously adjusted position, suitable from a driving and comfort point of view, to a relatively high position in which the integral bed is able to extend over the engine cowl. Thereafter, when the bed is converted into vehicle seats, it is once again necessary to find the suitable vertical position for the seats.